NFL Draft Rumors: Teddy Bridgewater, Tom Savage and Latest QB Buzz

Quarterbacks have been the talk of this draft. It's not that the group is amazingly talented. In fact, that's what is generating so much speculation. In the end, no one knows how this is going to play out.

There is no better example than the current situation with Louisville quarterback Teddy Bridgewater and Pittsburgh quarterback Tom Savage. To understand how this news mocks the process of mock drafts, we have to understand the journey.

Let's start with the current perception of the two. Charlie Campbell reported on Walter Football that an NFC executive said the rapidly plummeting Bridgewater wouldn't be selected in the first round and "that he thought Bridgewater was a 'fourth-round guy.'"

Who will have the best NFL career?

BridgewaterSavageBortlesSubmit Votevote to see results

Who will have the best NFL career?

Bridgewater

41.5%

Savage

26.9%

Bortles

31.6%

Total votes: 294

Then there is Savage. His stock is rising so quickly that he was invited to the draft. He turned down the invitation, but the offer suggests he isn't going to make it past the second round.

In the fluid world of the NFL draft, Savage could very well wind up getting selected ahead of Bridgewater. At the end of this past college football season, Bridgewater was going roughly 150-200 picks earlier than Savage in mock drafts.

After his prolific career at Louisville, where he showed an advanced ability to make audibles and go through his progressions, Bridgewater was a popular projection as the No. 1 pick. My early mock drafts had him going No. 1.

Now, he may not even go on the first day. Campbell's take on Bridgewater doesn't paint a positive picture:

We've reached out to many teams about Bridgewater, and all have been down on him. Perhaps the most glaring response we've heard came from an executive with an NFC playoff team that has no need for a starting quarterback. They have their franchise signal-caller, but they could use a reserve, so we asked this executive his thoughts on some quarterbacks, including Bridgewater.

The NFC executive said that he thought Bridgewater was a "fourth-round guy" and will fall out of the first round.

Central Florida's Blake Bortles now projects to be the first quarterback off the board. According to Ryan O'Halloran of the Florida Times-Union, a league source said Bortles will be the first quarterback selected and will go "to somebody in the first five or six picks."

Meanwhile, Savage had a rather pedestrian college career. But he, like Bortles, has the tools to be a sturdy pocket passer.

At the end of the college season, Savage's 2,958 passing yards, 21 touchdowns and nine interceptions didn't catch anyone's eye. He was an afterthought in the draft process. NFL.com, which apparently has not updated its draft projections, lists Savage as a fifth- or sixth-round prospect.